Chapter 8 War of Yinchang Governor

The Revolution of 1911 was successful and the Qing Dynasty collapsed. From the perspective of the Manchus, there were two people who were responsible for the military. One was Ruicheng and the other was Yinchang.In the last three years of the Qing Dynasty, the court of relatives and nobles in charge of the family indiscriminately put power in the hands of the Manchus, but the Manchu generals were really useless. Even if the power was in hand, a little priority would not help.During the Wuchang Uprising, the governor of Huguang, Ruicheng, was considered a capable official among the Manchus. When the cannons of the rebel army fired, he forgot that he was a military commander. He dug a dog hole in the wall of the Governor’s Mansion and fled to the warship Chuyu. Go up, put on a posture that you can escape at any time.The fact that the leaderless uprising army was able to occupy Wuchang so smoothly had nothing to do with the fact that the other party also happened to have no leader.And Yinchang, as the Minister of War of the imperial court, personally led the army to the south to fight against the rebels.For more than ten days in a row, without recovering an inch of land, without making an inch of merit, watching the flames of war ignited all over the country, waiting for the overall situation to rot.In comparison, Yin Chang's crime is obviously bigger.At the beginning, Ruicheng was in a hurry after all. He didn't know that there were still available soldiers, and there was a reason why he got into the dog hole.Yinchang held what was known as the strongest Beiyang army at that time, with sufficient soldiers and food, and advanced weapons, so it was really inconceivable that he did nothing.

When the posterity talked about this period of history, they all said that it was because the Beiyang Army was Yuan's family soldier, and he could not command it, because Yuan Shikai was secretly manipulating it behind him, and he didn't want him to make meritorious deeds.In fact, Yin Chang had worked as an instructor and the office of the Beiyang Armed Forces Academy for many years, and had a close relationship with most of the Beiyang generals.Both Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui treated them with etiquette as teachers.The generation of Li Chun and Zhang Jingyao are even more so.When the Beiyang Army went south, whether Yuan Shikai was manipulating behind the scenes to keep them from working their lives, there is still no definite evidence.Yinchang's so-called lack of command at the time, in my opinion, should be due to poor command.At the beginning of taking over, the two teams (regiments) were first sent as the advance team. Instead of taking advantage of the unstable foothold of the revolutionaries, they quickly joined Zhang Biao's remaining troops and seized the counterattack.When the Beiyang army arrived at the front line, they fought with the rebel army, but he stayed in Xinyang, Henan, and refused to step into the territory of Hubei for a long time.I finally entered Hubei under pressure, but I was stuck on the train and refused to get off. It was far away from the line of fire, and the train was equipped with machine guns and cannons, surrounded by heavy troops.There is a locomotive at the front and back of the train, which can move forward or backward (essentially, it is the same as Rui Chengxin who stayed on the Chuyu ship, and is ready to run at any time).The guard found a group of people coming from afar and reported it to him, and he immediately ordered to drive back.After the train started, a courageous staff officer went down to have a look, only to find that it was a group of peasant women who went to the fields to collect cotton.Such a minister of war who is in a panic, such a cowardly commander-in-chief who has never even seen the shadow of the enemy, how can the troops work hard?Feng Guozhang, who later took over the command, went to the battlefield to inspect the enemy's situation and terrain in person. The headquarters was set up at the front line to keep abreast of the battle situation and invest in troops, which formed a sharp contrast with Yinchang.In fact, Feng Guozhang is not a great general, he is just more like a general (the Russian military attache who watched the battle said that the Beiyang Army fought like an exercise).The Beiyang Army back then was said to have been deliberately instilled in Yuan Shikai's personal loyalty to him during his military training. They only knew about Yuan Gongbao, but not the Qing Dynasty.However, historians have actually found no evidence for this.Yuan Shikai did not have much spiritual education in his military training. The so-called spiritual speech in the army came after the Republic of China.If Xiaozhan's military training song is regarded as spiritual education, there is no content of allegiance to Yuan Gongbao, but allegiance to the emperor.In fact, the Beiyang Army was a mercenary army trained according to Prussian standards.As long as the salary is paid enough, there is still professional ethics.Although it is said that most Beiyang generals will feel more comfortable under the leadership of Yuan Shikai because of Yuan's personal style.But it by no means means that only Yuan Shikai can command them.If Yinchang could go to the front line in person, take the lead, and then be willing to spend money and offer rewards (Feng Guozhang often did this later), and be willing to reward officials with titles, how can these well-trained veterans deal with the revolutionary party's team of recruits who have just held guns for a few days? More than enough.

In fact, Yinchang was not willing to accept this job from the very beginning.Some people recalled that when the cabinet held a meeting to discuss, Yin Chang was wearing military boots, but he was wearing a robe and jacket, looking half literate and unarmed.Hearing that he was asked to supervise the teacher to go to Wuhan, he immediately complained, "I don't have anyone, and if I go to Hubei to supervise the teacher, should I punch or kick?"However, Zaifeng, the regent at that time, was in a hurry to hug his feet, and he was all counting on his own man who had studied in Germany and "knowledge soldiers", and he couldn't do it if he didn't go.Yinchang is a typical Eight Banners boy, if he is talking about playing, he is proficient in all kinds of trades, but he can't do practical things.A good handwriting, two mouthfuls of hibiscus (big cigarettes), three rounds of mahjong rubbing, and four Kunqu operas.Smart and likable.After the Ding Revolution, Yuan Shikai used him as the chief attendant of the presidential palace, which was really the right person.Speaking of which, he was one of the bannermen who had been exposed to Western culture earlier, and he entered the Tongwenkan to learn German very early.Although it is said that the students of Tongwenguan did not recruit elite banner people as designed, only some poor students of the Eight Banners were willing to "concise" to become "Guigu disciples", but it is still difficult to expect them to learn to control the whole Westernization It is the expectation of the court.However, the foreignized education of Tongwenguan could not withstand the erosion of the Eight Banners idler culture at all.The children of the Eight Banners in the hall are treated well, seven dishes and eight bowls a day, plus the salary of the seventh-rank official, but the foreign language they learn is not very good.Qi Rushan, who was born in Tongwenguan, recalled that among his classmates, some of them had studied Russian for nine years and hadn't even memorized the alphabet.In fact, even the most promising Zhang Deyi went to the British embassy as an interpreter, and Yan Fu, a foreign student, would still be full of jokes.Yinchang is such a student who has not done much in his studies. After graduation, he went to Germany to work as an interpreter, and he couldn't even handle daily conversations.Later, he entered the Armed Forces Academy as an interpreter, and he was considered to have joined the military. He was sent to study in Germany, but he still didn't know much about it.Judging from the old photos left behind, there is only a mustache of Kaiser Wilhelm II, which vaguely has traces of Germany.During his military career, he only served as admiral of Jiangbei for a short time. In office, he was quite easy-going, but he didn't train troops, and he didn't rectify.However, among the Manchus, his mind is not very cool, and his relationship with the Han people is also good. He cut his braids early on, and when he went to the palace to meet the Queen Mother, he pretended to deal with it.Inside and out, no one said he was bad.After the Ding Revolution, he was able to continue to be Yuan Shikai's chief attendant not only because he was Yuan Shikai's in-laws, but also because of his popularity.Such a baby, a good-looking baby, became a minister of war and was entrusted with the important task of saving the imperial court from danger. If he didn't run away, sneak back to Beijing or slip out of the country, he was already Amitabha.